Suppliers of Crown Agents do not revise prices for drugs purchased with state budget due to war

Suppliers of the British purchasing agency Crown Agents did not revise prices for drugs purchased with state budget funds due to the war, Tetiana Korotchenko, head of Crown Agents Ukraine, said.

"Contracts were signed at the beginning of the war. No one is reviewing prices," she told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to Korotchenko, Crown Agents has not received any messages from suppliers or manufacturers that they want to terminate their deals with Crown Agents.

"On the contrary, deliveries are very rhythmic. We can say with confidence that all participants in the process worked perfectly, which made it possible to very quickly reformat supply chains and prevent interruptions in the supply of vital medicines," she said.

Korotchenko also noted that until the end of February, the full team of Crown Agents worked in Kyiv, however, due to the outbreak of active hostilities, the agency, its partners and suppliers, whose offices were in Kyiv, could not continue to work in conditions of constant missile attacks and bombing.

"We resumed work as soon as we were able to provide a safe working environment for our employees. In addition, there was a slight delay due to reformatting supply chains," she said.

Responding to humanitarian crises is one of the areas in which Crown Agents works, she said.

"We understand that civilians are also victims of war, and our mission is to help those in need. Thanks to our close relationship with the Ministry of Health, we receive daily updates on medical needs on the ground during the conflict. Based on the requests submitted by the Ministry of Health, we attract donor funds for the purchase and delivery of the necessary medical devices. These are, in particular, trauma kits, fentanyl, oxygen concentrators and incubators for newborns," the head of Crown Agents Ukraine said.

Currently, Crown Agents is working with the Ministry of Health under a contract for 2021, the contract for 2022 was not signed due to the outbreak of active hostilities by the Russian Federation, Korotchenko emphasized.

"We submitted our proposal for 2022, but, unfortunately, a full-scale invasion of Russia began, and the process was suspended," she said, recalling that the purchase of medicines by specialized international organizations was extended until April 1, 2023.

Korotchenko also said that Crown Agents continues to supply COVID vaccines. In particular, the agency supplied the Ministry of Health with more than 3.8 million doses of CoronaVac vaccines.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua